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2012 Calendar for Ten-Minute Training Topics

Driver education takes many forms in many companies. A variety of methods helps assure that drivers receive the message that’s being sent by the management team.

We recognize that there are many really wonderful driver “training” programs out on the market, but many approach the educational program by making the driver sit in a class or in front of a computer for more than an hour at a time. This cuts into their productivity and may become “mind-numbing” after the first 12 to 15 minutes – especially if they’ve already been through this topic in the recent past.

We’ve built a “reminder” or “refresher” program to supplement our driver coaching program. It’s designed to remind drivers of what they should already know and be practicing on a regular basis. Also, it’s designed to do this in a very short time span — typically a ten minute tailgate talk or similar approach (i.e. self-study; coaching sessions, etc.)

Each year we publish a new calendar for our popular Ten-Minute Training Topic series. These driver training packages are included in our very popular “driver safety hotline” program that some firms continue to call a “how’s my driving” program.

The monthly training package for drivers includes:

A driver handout with statistics about the issue, a description of why they should care and tips to consider when driving.

A manager’s supplement report that includes current news stories about that month’s topic, links to web sites with additional resources and a discussion of how the month’s topic relates to company policies and procedures.

A pair of power point presentations — one for easy copying/printing and one with full graphics and images to help drivers relate to the message at hand.

Occasionally we’ve tested other elements — word searches, handbooks and quizzes, or other training delivery formats. All in all, our 4,000 clients have agreed that “keep it simple” has worked best and they really enjoy working with our materials. It’s easier than dealing with bandwidth/kiosk issues for many clients and yet we’re also working on the release of an online, interactive training program, too (featuring four-minute length reminder videos followed by a very short quiz).

The very first Ten-Minute Training Topic was published way back in May of 2003. We’ve been publishing a new or re-written topic each month since then — building an archive of over 80+ topics at our customer website.

During 2012, we will be publishing several interesting topics based on client requests and feedback:

January – “Check Your Vehicle“

February – “Rollovers“

March – “Roadway Defects and Debris“

April – “Rain & Fog“

May – “Right of Way“

June – “Your Turn Signals“

July – “The Other Driver“

August – “School Zones“

September – “Traffic Congestion“

October – “Vehicle Clearances“

November – “Unexpected Breakdowns“

December – “Impaired Driving“

In the past, we’ve published topics on Aggressive Driving, Cell Phones/Distracted Driving, Drowsy Driving, and many other pertinent and timely issues related to driver safety. Current clients may substitute older issues for current issues by going to our site and downloading the older topics as they see fit.

In addition to providing these topics as a benefit of participating in the “driver safety hotline” program, some clients subscribe to the training topics as a stand alone program — separate from the hotline program.

If you have an interest in receiving a courtesy copy of one of our monthly programs, let me know! Additionally, if you’d like to see a preview of our supervisory training programs, or our interactive training programs, we can arrange a web cast.